Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Filipino youth volunteers of “Kalayaan Atin Ito Movement” who amidst all odds sailed to Pag-asa Island have returned to Palawan on Sunday (January 3).
The group with 47 members, camped out at the Pag-asa island from December 26, 2015 to January 1, 2016 as a protest against what they said was China’s growing reclamation and militarization activities in the disputed South China Sea, which Manila claims as the West Philippine Sea.
Also read: Filipino protesters land on island in disputed South China Sea
Symbolic act of defiance
“We have lost to China the heart of the Kalayaan Island Group Municipality through their triangle militarized zone from Fiery Cross Reef to Subi Reef and Mischief Reef,” the group said in a statement recently posted on its Facebook page. “Inside this triangle, are the other military bases that China has built.”
With 47 youth volunteers on board a rented vessel, the “Freedom Voyage” left Buliluyan Port in the southern town of Bataraza last December 24, 2015 and arrived at Pag-asa Island on December 26, 2015.
The symbolic act of defiance earned the ire of China and even Taiwan, which are among the countries with overlapping claims in the rich fishing ground and oil deposit-rich sea.
Also read: China angered as Filipino protesters visit South China Sea island
The group claimed the Philippines has lost it all to China, which they argued “blatantly violates our sovereignty and clearly disregarded international law that is supposed to rule the sea.”
Chinese patrol ship
The group said they witnessed how China closely monitors the island while in Pag-asa.
“Everyday Chinese coast guard patrol ship with bow number 46708 patrolled the shores of our island even inside the 12 nautical miles territorial water,” the group claimed.
“Also, almost everyday, Chinese coastguard helicopter patrolled the shores of the Pag-asa Island too close that we were able to record it on video through a low tech mobile phone.”
The protest trip capped off with the group leaving the island on Friday (January 1).
They reportedly arrived in a Bataraza port yesterday and afterwards headed back to Barangay Buenavista in northern Puerto Princesa where they previously camped out for a couple of days while arranging the trip to the Kalayaan Island Group.
DFA: Let arbitral tribunal decide
Foreign Affairs spokesperson Charles Jose, meanwhile, said in a text message to CNN Philippines that everything will depend on the arbitration case filed by the country against China with the arbitral tribunal.
“We have the arbitration case that we filed vs. China with the arbitral tribunal of UNCLOS where we seek to have China’s 9-dash line claim invalidated as having no basis under international law, especially UNCLOS,” Jose said.
“We are awaiting the final decision of the tribunal, which we hope will come out in early 2016. The decision is legally-binding on both PH and China,” Jose added, claiming that the arbitration case is the solution to the overlapping maritime claims in the South China Sea.
Palawan-based journalist Keith Anthony S. Fabro contributed to this report.
